Friday, April 20, 2012

TSA Week in Review: Man Brings Pistol Through Checkpoint. Again!

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2nd Time Isn’t a
Charm - You can possibly
get away with saying you didn’t know you had your gun the first time, but a
second time? A passenger at
John Wayne Airport (SNA) attempted tobring a loaded .357 pistol
through security in his
carry-on bag. Leave your guns
at home, pilgrim.

Warheads - Yes, warheads. Three of them. They were
discovered in ominous black lockboxes at the checkpoint at Salt Lake City (SLC).
The good news is they were inert devices used for training by the passenger’s
company.

A Little Less Flare – If somebody suggested that you should add some
flair to your travel, they didn’t mean “flare.” Yes, another flare gun complete
with flares was discovered in a carry-on bag. This time it was at Tampa (TPA).

Det Cord Igniter Used as Keychain - An inert det cord igniter was detected in
the carry-on bag of a Sacramento (SAC) passenger. Not the ideal keychain when
traveling by air…

Throwing Stars - Two days in a row, Officers at Los Angeles
(LAX) found throwing stars. One passenger had the star in his wallet and the
other in their bag. We are familiar with the ways of your Kung Fu.

Cane Sword - Yet another cane sword was discovered. This
time it was at Phoenix (PHX). People usually have no idea the swords are inside
their cane.

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Lipstick Knife - Unlike cane swords, there is no way you
could say you didn’t know the knife was in the lipstick case. This one was
found at Oakland (OAK).

People Say the Darndest Things
- Here is an example of
what not to say at the airport. Statements like this not only delayed the
people who said them, they can also inconvenience lots of other passengers if
the checkpoint has to be evacuated:

While placing their property in a
bin prior to screening, a passenger at Rapid City (RAP) stated: “Do you want me
to put my explosive belt on top of my explosive shoes?”

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items
- In addition to all of
the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also found firearm
components, realistic replica firearms, stun guns, pepper spray, brass knuckles, a copious amount of knives, ammunition, and
batons.

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Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found in
carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

Unfortunately these sorts of
occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure,
it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same
time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a
passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some
cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items
at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean
they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In
many cases, people simply forgot they had these items in their bag. That’s why
it’s important to double check your luggage before you get to the airport.

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unrelated topic you can do so in ourOff Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog postarchives orsearch our blog to find a related topic to
comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an
immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you
traveled, or will be traveling through by usingTalk
to TSA.

Anonymous said... How is a .38 caliber pistol considered "loaded" but not "chambered"? Typically .38s are revolvers so are you saying that they had their pistol loaded one round short?

April 20, 2012 5:54 PM--------Seriously? Do you have nothing better to blog about? Are you just looking for tedious little things to comment on? They had a gun! Big deal whether someone may have made an error in mentioning chambered vs non chambered in among all the other items they are talking about.

TSA. I have tried twice to post a comment with links to news stories about TSA and twice I have been censored. I offer no opinions. I am saying nothing derogatory. I am simply posting a collection of headlines with links to their respective articles that anyone can find on google news. I see others posting links to other news articles. Why am I censored while they are not? What terms of commenting am I breaking? How is this government censorship Constitutional? I wish some other commenters here could contact me privately some way about this but you would never let me publish my contact information. I am at a loss for what to do, but I get the feeling that's exactly what you're hoping for.

Bob said "I like to highlight the great work our officers are doing while also providing interesting items for our readers to look at and read about."

Back when lighters were prohibited (may they still are, I don't know) a friend of mine always packed two. One for the screeners to find and one to keep. I've flew with him quite often and his trick always works.

So that 70% failure rate is definitely true, in fact, it sounds much lower. And if this figure is no longer accurate the you should post the latest score.

Blogger Bob said... I like to look at it this way. If our officers can pay attention to detail and find something as small as a lipstick knife, they're also going to see a blasting cap if one comes across their screen.

I like to highlight the great work our officers are doing while also providing interesting items for our readers to look at and read about.

Blogger Bob BurnsTSA Blog Team

April 20, 2012 5:58 PM...............Great work like the screeners who missed over two pounds of C4 Plastic Explosives in a carryon bag they hand searched late last year? That kind of great work?

I don't understand why these finds are being trumpeted on the TSA website. Aren't these the same items that were being found 30 years ago when people just had to walk through a metal detector/x-ray machine? I honesty haven't seen anything so far that justifies the creation of an entire new branch of the government at the cost of billions of dollars to tax payers. Am I missing something?

Blogger Bob said..."I like to look at it this way. If our officers can pay attention to detail and find something as small as a lipstick knife, they're also going to see a blasting cap if one comes across their screen."

I like to look at it this way. Anyone can get lucky once in a while and find something. Since you have no idea what percentage of prohibited item are found, you have no idea if the screeners are doing a good job or a terrible bob. You can't measure performance by only counting successes.

If a passenger makes a sarcastic comment criticizing your techniques, it is labelled as a stupid remark that "inconveniences other passengers."

But your OP is allowed to make as many stupid puns as he wants? At the very least, you could add a "Wakka Wakka" here and there.

April 20, 2012 8:55 PM--------------Wow! Someone who is actually equating making a bomb/explosive/other remark at a checkpoint (10+ years after 9/11, countless newspaper articles about how stupid remarks at a Cp get people arrested, TV shows, news coverage, etc - let alone the plain stupidity of it) with someone making a pun in a blog. Yup. Just shows the average IQ of the posters on here.

The Terrors of Pre-Teens: Despite public assurances to the contrary of how compassionate TSA acts towards children, and towards those with disabilities, TSOs marched a fifth-grader through the terminal at O'Hare with armed security forces and subjected him to an embarrassing private screening ... all over an ill-placed insulin pump. (By the way, the whole incident could have been avoided if the TSOs would have allowed the young man to adjust the placement of the pump and re-scanned him, in accordance with TSA's own procedures.)

Aim High, Steal Low: An elderly retired Air Force major and his wife were separated from their belongings in San Diego in order to undergo an aggressive private screening. Lo and behold, when they were reunited with their belongings, $300 was missing. When the seniors confronted TSA about the incident, the TSOs implied that there was no missing money.

Who Watches The Watchers? A West Palm Beach TSO plead guilty to charges of extortion and receipt of bribes. On four different occasions, he accepted bribes to allow a drug-runner to pass through a TSA checkpoint without being screened. He was not discovered by TSA, but by the feds who had turned the drug-runner into an informant by then.

I like to look at it this way. If our officers can pay attention to detail and find something as small as a lipstick knife, they're also going to see a blasting cap if one comes across their screen

But they don't!! Last I heard, the TSA screeners fail at finding 70% of test bombs! (if you have updated figures, please share! Of course, if they were any better, the TSA would have already mentioned them, so they're probably worse.)

And that still doesn't explain why a 1" lipstick knife is prohibited, while a pair of scissors (basically two 4" knife blades hinged together) is allowed.

From my point of view, I cannot understand why people carry all sorts of guns and white weapons with them, apart from being strictly illegal. Fortunately I know that in 99.99% of the cases they will be cut by state authorities. May you tell me what is the success rate? Is it close to 99%, or it's lower?

Larger than the number of non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan (40,000) (and almost as much as the total number of US troops over there: 68,000)

Larger than the number of employees in 7 of the 15 Executive Cabinet Departments ranging from the Dept of Transportation (58,189) to the Dept of Education (4,611). This includes the Department of State (49,900) while counting all of it's Civil Service, Foreign Service, and Foreign Service National employees.

It is larger than the number of full-time state employees of 16 states, ranging from New Mexico (56,530) to Wyoming (15,723).

It is larger than the populations of 13 State Capitol Cities, ranging from Carson City, NV (55,274) to Pierre, SD (13,646)

It is larger than the population of Greenland (56,749)

It is larger than the number of active duty personnel serving in all branches of the Australian military (57,500)

When my Four-year-old daughter noticed her Grandmother, she excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do. They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds. The Transportation Security Officers(TSO) who were present responded to this very simple action in the worst way imaginable.

First, a TSO began yelling at my child, and demanded she too must sit down and await a full body pat-down. I was prevented from coming any closer, explaining the situation to her, or consoling her in any way. My daughter, who was dressed in tight leggings, a short sleeve shirt and mary jane shoes, had no pockets, no jacket and nothing in her hands. The TSO refused to let my daughter pass through the scanners once more, to see if she too would set off the alarm. It was implied, several times, that my Mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter....The TSO seemed utterly convinced my child was concealing a weapon, as if there was no question about it. Worse still, she was treating my daughter like she understood how dangerous this was, as if my daughter was not only a tool in a terrorist plot, but actually in on it. The TSO loomed over my daughter, with an angry grimace on her face, and ordered her to stop crying. When my scared child could not do so, two TSOs called for backup saying “The suspect is not cooperating.” The suspect, of course, being a frightened child. They treated my daughter no better than if she had been a terrorist....What should have been a very minor, routine security check was turned into a horrific ordeal. All of this could easily have been prevented if the TSO involved had used a little bit of compassion and a smidgen of common sense. There is no reason for any child to go through this, and while I completely understand the necessity of tight airport security, I fail to see how harassing a small child will provide safety for anyone.

Gee, Bob, whatever happened to the supposed TSA policy "“TSA will not ask travelers to do anything that will separate them from their child or children"???

Oh, wait- "TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper current screening procedures".

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS- TERRORIZING A 4-YEAR OLD IS "PROPER PROCEDURE" FOR THE TSA.

I don’t know where many of you work that post your anonymous comments. How would you feel if before the start of your shift, people pointed out the mistakes you made? How would you feel if people were rude because of what happened somewhere else? Just because there was one bad apple please don’t presume that the whole bunch is tainted! Please note that many people that work at TSA are Veterans of the Armed Services, they are mothers and fathers, grandmas and grandpas and they also travel and adhere to the same standards that they must enforce! I would agree that some of TSA’s policies need an overhaul, but that should not negate the things people do catch. I would be thankful for someone that was trying to assist me, even at the cost of some of my liberties. I served in the military, I understand sacrifice. Too many people say negative things, and forget that the pen is mightier then the sword. Use yours for good, to strengthen others, instead of tearing them down. Help out or offer an insightful comment; instead of some belligerent incoherent gripe. Lastly adhere to the “Golden Rule” treat others the way you want to be treated!

Blogger Bob said... I like to look at it this way. If our officers can pay attention to detail and find something as small as a lipstick knife, they're also going to see a blasting cap if one comes across their screen.

I like to highlight the great work our officers are doing while also providing interesting items for our readers to look at and read about.

I don't know if it wrong of me but I enjoy seeing these things. I should be bothered these guys are running around even attempting to get away with this type of stuff, but I love seeing things such as the lipstick knife. Its a tad bit fascinating to me the things these people come up with!

Blogger Bob said...I like to look at it this way. If our officers can pay attention to detail and find something as small as a lipstick knife, they're also going to see a blasting cap if one comes across their screen.

This perfectly illustrates the problems with the TSA. The way you like to look at it and reality are totally at odds. Evidence suggest that by giving kudos to your employees for finding these items that are prohibited yet common, creates an environment where screeners search for and find small knives, or deodorant, or cupcakes, but miss uncommon items such as blasting caps.

This says nothing of the fact that the prohibitions are arbitrary, reactionary, and otherwise ineffective as security; and as has been repeatedly pointed out that the majority of this items are not discovered anyway. But yeah, thanks for keeping me safe.

Anonymous said...I don’t know where many of you work that post your anonymous comments. How would you feel if before the start of your shift, people pointed out the mistakes you made? How would you feel if people were rude because of what happened somewhere else? Just because there was one bad apple please don’t presume that the whole bunch is tainted! Please note that many people that work at TSA are Veterans of the Armed Services, they are mothers and fathers, grandmas and grandpas and they also travel and adhere to the same standards that they must enforce! I would agree that some of TSA’s policies need an overhaul, but that should not negate the things people do catch. I would be thankful for someone that was trying to assist me, even at the cost of some of my liberties. I served in the military, I understand sacrifice. Too many people say negative things, and forget that the pen is mightier then the sword. Use yours for good, to strengthen others, instead of tearing them down. Help out or offer an insightful comment; instead of some belligerent incoherent gripe. Lastly adhere to the “Golden Rule” treat others the way you want to be treated!

---

Hear, hear! It's the 99% of the TSA that make the rest of them look bad. As for the rest of that tripe, by all means, you are welcome to surrender some of your liberties if you believe it protects you, but don't you dare think you can make me surrender mine.

How many of these guns were found on 4 year old girls, 85 year old women, or inside a colostomy bag? And I'm curious (but expect to to be answered), when these folks are delayed due to the pat down (not their choice) and miss their flight, does the TSA compensate them for that?

JoJo said... Anonymous said...I don’t know where many of you work that post your anonymous comments. How would you feel if before the start of your shift, people pointed out the mistakes you made? How would you feel if people were rude because of what happened somewhere else? Just because there was one bad apple please don’t presume that the whole bunch is tainted! Please note that many people that work at TSA are Veterans of the Armed Services, they are mothers and fathers, grandmas and grandpas and they also travel and adhere to the same standards that they must enforce! I would agree that some of TSA’s policies need an overhaul, but that should not negate the things people do catch. I would be thankful for someone that was trying to assist me, even at the cost of some of my liberties. I served in the military, I understand sacrifice. Too many people say negative things, and forget that the pen is mightier then the sword. Use yours for good, to strengthen others, instead of tearing them down. Help out or offer an insightful comment; instead of some belligerent incoherent gripe. Lastly adhere to the “Golden Rule” treat others the way you want to be treated!

.............................People point out TSA employee mistakes because the mistakes continue to happen. Same mistakes over and over. Not to mention the high number of thieves and other criminals working by your side. For the former military members working for TSA it seems you forgot your oath to protect and defend the Constitution because TSA is destroying this country.

If you don't want to be singled out then get an honest job, TSA is it!

Freedom of speech (sarcasm is a form of speech) such as this most likely would not be as harmful, or at least would be able to be taken with a grain of salt, if the requirements to become a TSA agent wasn't the ability to read.

Also, if our country wasn't a police state, as intended by the true government, citizens probably wouldn't have such comments.

I am still for government of the people, by the people, for the people. And yes, I believe such thing truly has perished.

rb said:"to mention the high number of thieves and other criminals working by your side"

could you please give a definition of "high number". i am quite curious to the the percentage of "thieves and other criminals" in the tsa to those of REAL law enforcement. i bet that tsa is in the minority. its a good thing that there arent any "thieves and other criminals" in your police departments, secret service, judges, elected officals, etc. i cant wait for your defintion of "high number" seeing as there approx 42000 tsa screeners.

With regard to that dangerous knife that you found mounted on a walker, butter knives are specifically excluded by TSA as a prohibited item. So that means that your screener stole an item that TSA has declared to be harmless. You and your screener are in violation of TSA's policies. When are you and the screener going to be reprimanded? When is the elderly gentleman who couldn't harm a fly with a butter knife going to be given an apology by your abusive agency and have his harmless (according to TSA's prohibited items list) property returned to him?

Please, pat yourself on the back all you want the fact is none of the stuff you confiscated was going to bring a plane down nor was it intended to.

TSA is a joke typical government waste of money for appearances. But the vendors inside the terminals love you guys. $5 for 12 ounce bottle of water. Your are just part of the same ole rip off the American people gang.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think one of their basis for confiscation no matter how small an item can be is that if it has some sort of pilot ignition that can be hazardous to anybody on board. Take the case of the lighter for instance. I commend all your efforts guys to keep everybody safe. Cheers! :)